I am gardening and putting up a new fence in my backyard (hence my general not being around, the project is in my backyard) and I came across a problem. There are a ton of stumps where I want to be putting my new fence. So far I have been ripping up the small ones with brute force (Huge and manly, I know), but there some big stumps there. What I have been doing is digging up around the stump and using a sawsall to cut up as much as I can, but its really not working too great. So I was wondering:

1) Anyone have any experience / thoughts on stump removal?

2) Anyone have a stump removing device? Apparently you can grind them down.

i haven't been directly involved, but have seen 3 methods applied up close, successfully.

the commercial grinding operations are LOUD and you can often rent a smaller version for the weekend. they spray chips everywhere, and may need further tidying, but do a pretty nice job.

a truck with a winch or chain and through bolt can work very well, but be prepared for adjacent plants/sod to come along.

there's a chemical stump remover (also useful in pyrotechnics) that the name of escapes me at the moment, but you drill a few holes in the stump, sprinkle it on liberally, and it remarkably accelerates the rotting out of the stump.

I've rented a stump grinder, you want a pickup and a ramp, they are very heavy. If you have access to the back yard that's likely the way to go. Pulling is hit or miss in my experience, even shrubs often require sawzall time to get them to a pull-able state.